I'd like to have just a word of prayer before opening the Word of God. Bow your heads with me, will you? Gracious heavenly Father, before studying your word we ask for your Holy Spirit to be present. We recognize our unworthiness, our inability to understand the great truths of this Word. Moreover, we recognize the fact that even if we could understand, we cannot change our lives into harmony with the great ideals and principles that you've outlined in this Word, for our characters, and for our lives. And so we come to You, asking for mercy, asking for the help of Your Holy Spirit and the angels. We pray that this will be a living Word today and that it will indeed work within us the change, the miracle working change that you've promised that it would as we study it in faith. I pray that each one of us here this morning might receive that blessing from the proper reading, and understanding and practicing of your word that You intend that we should. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

The great tragedy of life is that Jesus came down and died so that every individual might have eternal life--there is not a soul that needs to be lost--salvation has been provided as a free gift for every individual, and yet, the tragedy is that at such a great expense, with such a provision provided for each person who lives, that all might have eternal life, that all might have eternal riches, that all might have eternal Friends, happiness and joy, yet so few take advantage of what is offered to each one.

Look what Jesus says in Matthew 7:13,14. "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Now Jesus acknowledges the fact that it's a narrow way, and you can do anything you want to do and go to Hell, but you have to obey God to go to Heaven. He acknowledges that it's a difficult way, because it means sacrificing our sins, which is not easy, sacrificing our pride, our preconceived ideas, sometimes even our friends leave us and other things. So it's difficult, but God has provided the means so that all this might be accomplished. In fact, Jesus said that with God all things are possible. In fact, not only is it difficult to get to heaven, in our own strength, it's absolutely impossible. But with God, every person, from the weakest individual in all the world to the strongest, might have eternal life.

Now, what is really sad, I think, is that so many of those who really should have eternal life, and who would really appreciate eternal life are usually the ones who value it the least. Look what we're told over here in 1 Corinthians 1:26. It says, "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things," he says. Not many great and mighty accept the gospel, and that's a real shame, because it is the rich who would very much enjoy the riches of Heaven; it's the wise who would very much enjoy the wisdom of Heaven. And yet for some reason, they are the ones who are least inclined to strive after that which is the most important. As Jesus said in Matthew 19:24, "Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Now, the question is, why is this so? You would think it would be easier for a rich man or for a wise man to enter Heaven than for others. These are people who have intelligence. They're people who have learned the proper value of things, or at least they've learned the monetary value of things. They've learned to look at a piece of property, and be able to tell how much it's worth, and whether it's a good price or not. They have disciplined themselves to accomplish something in life.

They are people whom God loves very much. God loves industrious people. Look at what we're told in Proverbs 6:6-11. The Bible is full of counsel that we should be industrious. Here it says, "Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, 0 sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep--So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man." God is not pleased with laziness. He is well pleased with thrift, with industry, with a person making the most out of themselves. Look what Paul says to Timothy in to 1 Timothy 5:8. He says, "If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever." Back a few pages in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, it says, "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat." The Bible does not countenance laziness. The Bible encourages us to industry, to usefulness. Do you remember what Ecclesiastes 9:10 says? It says, "Whatever your hand fmdeth to do, do it" what? "with all your might." That's the command of the Bible.

Do you remember the parable that Jesus gave about the talents? God gave different talents to different people, and some of them multiplied their talents, and God said, "Well done thou good and faithful servant" in Matthew 25. But there was one man who went and buried his talent, and he brought it back and said, "Here's your talent that you gave me, just like you gave it. It hasn't increased; it hasn't decreased--it's just the same. And God said, "You wicked and slothful," or lazy, "servant. Why did you not go out and do something with that, so it would increase?" You see, Heaven is an industrious place; it's a place of activity, as it was in the garden of Eden, as God and the angels are. And those who go to Heaven are going to be people who are active, who as Paul says, have done with all their might that which God has given them to do. Why is it then, that those who have indeed accomplished so much in the world, reject that which is alone is worth anything, and that is eternal life?

As with money so it is with wisdom. Look with me at 1 Corinthians 3:18. "Let no one deceive himself If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise." Throughout the Bible it was the common people who accepted Jesus. In John 6, the rulers and Sadducees tauntingly boasted, "Who of the educated people have followed Jesus? It's only these ignorant people who have no education who have followed Jesus." And of Jesus, they said, "He never went to school." Of course, He did know how to read and write, evidently, because they said, "How does he know letters? He never went to school." He'd educated Himself. But they were contemptuous, because He had no degree.

And so we find that those who've made money (there were some, like Job and Abraham who indeed did follow the Lord and never apostatized), but so many times, those who had made it successful in life, either in warfare, in money, in prestige, in wisdom; they it seems were the ones who of all the people, rejected the Bible. It seems so unreasonable, when the Bible is the source of all wisdom, that the wise should not accept it; when Heaven is the source and only place of all true riches, that the rich should reject it. But somehow in the foolishness of living, when a man accomplishes a little, so many times we become satisfied, we become proud, and we become preoccupied with the things of this life. Look what Jesus said in Luke 21:34, "But take heed to yourselves," Jesus said, "lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come upon you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

The trouble with this life is that most people only recognize that wisdom which is acknowledged by some human standard and by some man-made degree. They recognize only that wealth that is externally paraded. They recognize only that beauty which is outward. They recognize only that success which brings worldly honor, and yet these things are all temporary! Look with me at 1 John 2:15-17. John warns us here, "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father, but is of the world." That's what's happening to the world. "the world is passing away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever."

There was a man in the Bible who was for a while very successful. He was industrious as God would have him to be. He applied himself as the Lord has counseled us to do, and he became very successful. He became one of the rulers of Israel, one of the Sanhedran, and he became a member of the Sanhedran as a young man. Usually you were old by the time you got to that position. You know, you had to climb up, little by little. Eventually, by the time you were ready to retire, you made it to the top. Isn't that the way it is so often in life? You strive and strive and finally you get there by about the time that you have all the aches and pains, and you have a few years till retirement, and finally you succeed, right? But this man succeeded when he was yet young, and could enjoy it. He was wealthy. He had position and authority.

We find this story over in Matthew 19, and it starts in verse 13; at least we can pick it up in verse 13. In verse 13 it says that "little children were brought to Him that he might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.' And He laid His hands on them; and departed from there."

Now, in the audience was this very successful young man, and he was touched with Jesus' tenderness. Here was a greatness that he had not seen before, a gentleness and a kindness that spoke of true dignity, which he had not witnessed, which he did not posses. And so he came to Jesus, being touched by His gentleness with the children, and he wondered how he could become one of His disciples, which becomes evident in the story.

Jesus invited him to follow Him and become a disciple of His. It says in verse 16, "Now behold, one came and said to Him, 'Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?"

His very first question revealed the fact that he had been so used to earning everything, that he even thought that he could earn eternal life. Everything he did, he had earned. So he said, "What can I do to earn eternal life? What can I do?"

Now, once before, when people had asked this of Jesus over in John 6:26-29, He said, "You can't do anything. What you have to do is believe." Verse 28 says, "Then they said to Him, 'What can we do that we may do, the works of God?" and "Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.'"

Jesus ministered to this rich man just where he was. He talked to him where he thought He could help him the most He first wanted to get past this man's flattery, which was indicative of his carnal heart. Did you notice that he addressed Jesus as a "Good Teacher"? "Good Teacher," he said. Now, if he was really calling Jesus good because he recognized His goodness that would be one thing, but this is the same greeting that he would give to any scribe or Pharisee that he was trying to impress.

Jesus wanted to see whether he recognized within him, that He was the Son of God; whether this was truly His goodness that he understood, or whether it was just an empty praise in order to lift one up and come into good graces, and so he said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good, but One, that is, God." He was used to calling all the scribes and Pharisees "good teacher," good this, whatever. And Jesus said, "There is only One who is good, and that is God." Of course, Jesus, as the scriptures reveal, is God, along with the Father.

"But if you want to enter into life," He answered his question, "keep the commandments." Now that's a very interesting statement that Jesus gave.

Of course it is impossible to keep the commandments in one's own strength. We cannot just go out and do the commandments, and enter into life. The only way that this can be done is through the conversion, through the new covenant experience that God offers to each one of us. You remember in Hebrews 10:16, the Bible says, "after those days. . . I will put my laws into theft hearts, and in their minds" That's the new covenant Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say unto you, you cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven unless you are born again."

1 John 2:29 says that to be born again means to do what is right. On in the next chapter it explains that doing what is right is to keep the commandments. The keeping of the commandments is not something that is impossible unless we're converted, but it is a sign, it is an indication of whether we are converted or not. They show whether we have been saved.

That's why, as we have noticed, God judges us according to the commandments--not because we can keep them, not because keeping them saves us, but because it shows whether God has accomplished His miracle working process of conversion within our hearts. We read this the other night, over in Ecclesiastes 12:13,14, back in the Old Testament. There is Psalms, Proverbs, and then Ecclesiastes. Solomon ends his book this way, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil."

James tells us that we are to keep all the commandments, because by these we are going to be judged. (James 2:10,12) In the first chapter of James, he explains why we are going to be judged by the commandments. The commandments are a mirror; they are a reflection; they are a standard to show whether our lives have been changed or not Notice in James 1:23-25, "For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror" The commandments are a mirror. You can look there and you can see whether you have sins in you character or not.

Paul says in Romans 7, "I once thought I was a good man, but then I studied the commandments, and I read the commandment that says, 'Thou shalt not covet,'" and he says, "Then sin revived, and I died." He said, "I realized that I thought I was good, but when the commandment came, I found I wasn't good anymore. It revealed that there was something within that did not measure up to God's standard."

So James said that the commandments are like a mirror, "for he observes himself" in verse 24, and "goes away and immediately forgets what manner of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in all that he does."

So we are saved totally by grace, through faith. Yet, the law shows whether we have been saved or not. It shows whether God has accomplished His work of salvation within us or not And that's why the Bible is so very, very clear that we are never to consider ourselves as converted as long as we are knowingly breaking the commandments.

Thankfully, the Bible says, "To him who knows to do right, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." There are those who are living up to all the light they know, and God acknowledges them where they are, because what he wants is the heart If they're truly living up to all they know, God has theft heart, and that's what He wants.

We're told over in 1 John, on over a few pages from James, 1 John 2:3-6, "Now by this we know that we know Him," you see, it's a mirror. This is how you know. This is how you know whether you're a Christian or not This is how you know whether you know God or not. He does not say, "This is how you are saved," He said, "This is how you know whether you are saved." We're saved by grace. The Lord comes into our hearts by faith, and He changes our lives. But this is how we can know whether that has been accomplished within us or not So he says, "by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly, the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk, just as he walked."

See, the Bible is very clear throughout that the commandments are the sign of allegiance to God. They're the sign of whether we have been converted or not That's why over in Matthew 7:21-23 all those people who thought they were saved when Jesus comes will find they're lost. It says, because they didn't keep the commandments, and

Jesus said, "I never knew you." God has given us the law, which is a transcript of God's character, in order to show what is within our hearts, whether we have had a change of character and of heart, and whether we have been converted or not.

Over in the next chapter in 1 John it says in verse 3, "every one who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He," that is, just as Jesus, "is pure." Now what does that mean? It goes on to say, "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Who ever sins has neither seen Him, nor known Him. little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous."

And so the Bible says that when Jesus comes into our life, He cleanses us from sin, and it says sin is breaking the law. It couldn't be clearer. If we knowingly continue to transgress the law, Jesus is not abiding within.

Of course, there are two ways of transgressing the law. We can hear the law and reject it, or we can refuse to hear the law. That's rejecting it also. In fact we're told in Proverbs 28:9, "One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination."

Paul, over in Romans 8, explains the same thing. He says this in Romans 8:6, "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God;" and why is it enmity against God? Notice what Paul says. This is an amazing text. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." That's why the law is a sign of whether we're converted or not, because if you're not converted, you can't keep the law. It's impossible. In fact we hate the law.

You know, it is interesting to me when I hear people talking against the law, preachers, especially. I always think of this verse. It says, "Those who are at enmity with the law are at enmity with God, and are carnal, not converted." The Bible says, "The carnal mind"--not the converted mind, but the carnal mind--"is at enmity with the law, and therefore they cannot please God" it says. "So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

What about us, who have received the grace of God? Verse 2 says, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death." Sin is the transgression of the law. Notice what he says in verse four, "that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us" That's what the Spirit of God does for us, is to write His law within our hearts. That was verse four, "that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us".

So Jesus told this young man, "If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." Not that it was possible for him to keep the commandments, but that was an indication of whether he was converted or not. And he could go and receive strength from God so that he could indeed keep the commandments from the heart.

That was a puzzlement to this man, because he had strictly kept the commandments all his life; at least outwardly, he had. He had never outwardly stolen anything or murdered anyone, at least not as far as he knew. And so he asked the Lord, since he was kind of puzzled, (he couldn't think of any of those that he hadn't done), in Matthew 19:18. He said to Jesus, "which ones of the commandments?" And Jesus just quotes from the ten commandments; he doesn't come up with some new song some place. He begins to quote from the ten commandments. He said, "You shall not murder,' You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' You shall not bear false witness,'" That's the sixth, the seventh, the eighth, the ninth. "'Honor your father and your mother.'" That's the fifth. He says all of the last six commandments which deal with our love to mankind. And then the tenth commandment which says "Thou shalt not covet", Jesus reworded, quoting from the Old Testament "You shall love your neighbor as yourself,'"

Well, this young man immediately rationed to boast, "You know, these are just the ten commandments. I memorized those as a young man. I've always kept the ten commandments; no problem with that" So he said to Him in verse 20, "All these things I have kept from my youth."

But, he was still not satisfied. He said, "What is there that's still lacking?" He recognized that something was lacking.

Now, of course, he had not really kept the commandments. He supposed that if he had outwardly kept them that he had done his duty. He did not realize that the commandments were something that had to be kept in the heart He supposed that if he had not stolen anything according to the letter of the law, that he had kept the commandments. Whether he overreached himself in business, he did not consider that stealing. Whether he had something for sale and he did not tell the people everything about it so that he could sell it for a higher price, he did not consider that stealing. Whether he took advantage of someone when they were down and out and had to have some money, and so he was able to take advantage of them, he did not consider that stealing. Moreover, he had not kept the first four commandments either, because the very first commandment says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." And he had a great God in his life.

Now Jesus put His finger on the first commandment. Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven"

This was this man's God. And now Jesus told him that he must keep the first commandment as well as the others. Now, riches are not in and of themselves wrong. There were many rich people in the Bible--Solomon--he almost lost his soul over his riches--but there was Abraham, and there were others who were rich, and who were able to maintain theft Christian faith, but it wasn't easy. There weren't many. That's why Jesus said, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

But in this man's case, the only way he could be saved was to give up his riches. He did not have the faith or the generosity of Abraham. He did not have the Christian experience of Job. Jesus wanted to help this man to be saved, and so he showed him the only way of eternal life for him. He said, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven, and then, come and follow Me; become one of my disciples."

Now, there were others who had done this, actually. He was not asking him to do something that was very strange. When He came to Matthew, he was somewhat rich. He wasn't as influential as this man. He was a tax collector, and was looked down upon, but he had earned some money. He said, "Leave what you're doing, and come and follow Me," and immediately, Matthew left everything, and he followed Jesus, and became a disciple. There were other disciples who may not have been rich in any way or had a lucrative business; they were simply fishermen, but they left theft business. And they were successful enough that they had homes. In fact, John had two homes, we know. In the scriptures he had one in Galilee and one in Jerusalem. So he had at least earned a little bit from fishing--to be able to afford two homes--one when he went to the temple services (most people slept in tents, but John had bought himself a home in Jerusalem) and one back in Galilee. They had left everything and followed Jesus.

Jesus was not asking this man anything other than what Jesus Himself had done; He had left all the riches in Heaven, and He had come down as a poor man to minister to the inhabitants of this earth.

But when this man heard this saying, it says in verse 22, "he went away" happy that he could hold on to all of his riches. Is that what it says? He went away what? "sorrowful," because "he had great possessions." Isn't that strange that the money made him sorrowful? He could have been happy, except he had too much money to be happy. And he went away sorrowful, because he had great possessions.

The Bible never records this man again. He's lost to history. He surfaces once, like a meteor, for a brief period of time. Jesus showed him the way of life, and he left and never came back, as far as scripture records.

Mark and Luke record the same story. Luke says this, "Jesus loved this young man." It says, "When he saw him, He loved him." Jesus recognized in this man someone who had accomplished something, and he respected the fact that this man had done something in his life. He recognized qualities in this man, and His heart went out to him. Luke said, "Jesus loved him."

Jesus wasn't trying to present something to him to make eternal life really hard for him to have. Jesus was trying to make it easy for him to be saved. In fact, it was the only way he could be saved, was to give up his riches-- there was no other way. Jesus was pleading with him, tenderly, yearningly, as a friend to a friend.

But, he looked at all that he had, and it was too much. It was what made him what he was. If he didn't have his money, he wouldn't be any better than anybody else. His money is what made him something. That was him; that was his identity--his money and his position. If he gave up his money, he would no longer be rich. If he followed Jesus, he'd no longer be in the Sanhedran. He'd lose everything. It was too much. So he turned around and went away. He was defeated. He could not do the one thing that Jesus would have helped him to do, and that would have brought him immeasurable happiness.

I've sometimes thought about this rich young man. The Bible calls him rich. I've really never thought of him as rich. I really think what the Bible is saying is that he thought he was rich, but actually, I've never thought of him as rich. To me, he was rather a poor man. I mean, I book a round at what I have and compare what I have to what he had. He wasn't rich enough to have an indoor toilet. He wasn't very rich. Only poor people don't have indoor plumbing. This man wasn't rich enough to have air conditioning in the summer. That doesn't speak of riches to me. Does it to you? If he wanted to talk to someone, he wasn't rich enough to have a telephone in his home. He had to go and see the person. That doesn't seem very rich to me. The rich people that I know all have telephones, fax machines and everything else. He wasn't rich enough to have a television or a radio. The fastest vehicle he had probably went fifteen miles an hour. That's not very rich. A lot of poor people I know have vehicles that go a lot faster than that Oh, he may have had some robes that had rare metals in them, you know, little strands of gold, or something like that. That doesn't impress me either. That probably didn't last as long synthetics that we have today. He didn't have any electric can opener. In fact, he didn't have any cans to open. There was nothing rich about him. What he considered riches was that he had some slow moving chariot that had a little bit more gold on than someone else's chariot. That's what he thought was rich. Isn't it kind of ridiculous, really, when you think about it? He had a home without glass in the windows, without any indoor plumbing, without heating or electricity, except for a smoking fire. But it was a little bigger than what the homes of other people were, that other people had to live in. He thought that was rich. And this man sacrificed all the riches of Heaven for a fifteen mile an hour chariot, and a few other trinkets that he thought were so fantastically valuable. And he thought he was intelligent He thought he knew how to value things of life. He thought he knew how to properly buy and sell. He thought he could tell the value of a piece of property, and he could not tell the value of the property of Heaven. The man who thought he was wise became unbelievably foolish. He sold everything that was worth anything for that which was worth nothing.

I mean, even the little that he had lasted how long? He lived a few more years. He's been sleeping in the grave ever since. It's all gone, like it happens for all of us.

The next thing he knows will be waking up at the end of the millennium, and there will be his fortune--on the other side of the wall. He is going to pinch himself--"You mean, I gave up all that--for the trinkets that I had? Unbelievable."

I want to tell you, there's no one that is really very rich in this life. The richest person on earth is really quite poor when you consider the riches of eternity. More than that, there's no one in this life that really owns anything. All that we have is simply that which is loaned to us for a short period of time. Even the little that we have is simply on loan to us. Even the government recognizes that As soon as a person dies, they no longer have title to what they once had, isn't that right? What happens to the title of a person's home, once they die? Do they retain it? No, the government even recognizes that it was only on loan, and the title goes to someone else, and then they have it for a little while. It's only on loan. If they have it till they die, once they die, the title passes to someone else. There's nothing in this life that we own--even legally there's nothing that we own. Legally, all we have is loaned to us. Even the government recognizes that once we die, it's not ours any longer. It was just on loan.

You know, I have thought; in fact Solomon says, "If a person lived two thousand years, and then died, and that's all they had" he said, "Would it be worth anything--if you lived two thousand years? It would be worth nothing; it comes to an end sooner or later, and then it's all gone." But if that's true if a person should live two thousand years, as Solomon said, what about living sixty or seventy years? Or for most of us that are twenty years old or older, you know, forty or fifty years that we have left, or twenty or thirty years that we left, or one or two years that we may have left, or who knows? For the longest it's not going to be very long, and today the Bible says that Jesus is coming soon.

Even if he weren't coming soon, life is short. But today, the Bible says that Jesus is coming soon. He is coming while people are young. He is coming while people are middle age. He is coming while people are engrossed in business. As we're told in Matthew 24, "So you," in verse 33, it says, "when you see all these things, know that it is near--at the very doors."

Verse 37 says, "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." He will come while people are marrying and giving in marriage, eating and drinking, and making a living, He's going to come. The Bible reveals that that time is near.

Well, each one of us today are where that rich young ruler was nineteen hundred years ago. We are at the crossroads of eternity, and the question we all must ask is, "What can we do to have eternal life?" And to us, like the rich young ruler, Jesus simply says, "Keep the commandments, and you will enter into life." And like the rich young ruler, we ask, "Which ones?" Jesus simply quotes the ten commandments. But what he is wanting is something more than just outward observance. It's the commandments that are written in the heart that count--that which reveals a true love to God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and a love for one another. As Jesus said in Matthew 22, verse 37, "You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." Verse 39--"And this is the second commandment "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Sometimes we don't know ourselves. This young man did not know himself. He thought he'd kept the commandments, but as he pressed the point, Jesus showed him what true commandment keeping really meant in his case. And Jesus will do the same for us.

One thing is for certain. Each one of us have some idol in our life that will require a cross in order to give up for the Lord Jesus Christ This young man's idol was money. Some people's idol may be entertainment, sports, gluttony; some people's idol is dress, association; some people's idol is pleasure. None of these things are in and of themselves wrong, of course, just as it was not wrong to have money. But Jesus said, "Beware that you do not become engrossed with drunkenness, with the cares of this world, so that that day come upon you unaware." But, He says, "Pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape those things that are coming on the world."

May the Lord grant that we might have the commandments written in our hearts, and that we might look at them honestly and let them reveal what is really within us, whether we are saved or not. If we find that we are coming short, may we not turn away as the rich young ruler, sorrowfully. May we say, "Lord, I can't change my heart, but I want to be changed. Come into my life and help me to make the changes necessary for me to have that character which will fit within the society of Heaven.

Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you that you sent your Son to leave the riches of Heaven and the adoration of the angels to come down to this earth as a poor man to be scoffed at, to be rejected, and to die, in order that we might have eternal life.

Lord, may we make whatever sacrifices of whatever gods we have developed in our life, to follow him, and to develop those characters that are necessary to fit in within the pure and holy atmosphere of Heaven. I pray that we indeed will have your law written in our hearts, within our minds--that law that is based upon love to God and love to one another.

May we love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. May we be purified as Jesus is pure, because He is abiding within. We pray these things in Your Son's worthy name, who set us an example that we can each follow, and who has promised to give us true joy, true peace, true happiness, as we follow in the way that leads to eternal life. We pray this in His name, Amen.